Various types of imaging systems are available for imaging the surface and/or the interior of such diverse entities such as, for example, the human anatomy, animals, man-made physical structures such as welding joints in bridges, geological formations, bodies of water, as well as many others. For example, in the field of dentistry, various types of intra-oral sensors exist which are used for capturing images of the inside of teeth and surrounding anatomy (e.g., bone structure) by exposing the anatomy and sensors to X-ray radiation. Such imaging techniques are well known using such intra-oral sensors as, for example, X-ray sensitive film, X-ray sensitive phosphor plates, or X-ray sensitive digital sensors such as a corded charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor, for example.
A medical facility may have many offices or operatories used for treating patients, including capturing images of certain anatomy of those patients for diagnostic purposes. For example, a dental facility may include several operatories where each operatory is equipped with a camera and/or an X-ray machine for taking inter-oral images of patients by a dental technician. The images are often captured on media such as radiographic film or photostimulable phosphor plates which are then scanned by a scanning apparatus somewhere within the dental facility to digitally extract the images from the media. Dental technicians from the various operatories typically use the same scanning apparatus, which may be located in a relatively central location of the dental facility, to scan the exposed media to create the digital images. The digital images may be saved on a disk that the dental technician can carry back to the operatory so the images may be viewed on a display device such as a personal computer by a dentist. However, a more efficient way of distributing scanned images within a medical facility is desirable.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems and methods with the subject matter of the present application as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.